THE DESCENDANTS OF THE MAYAS 149
representing Kukulcan and Cortez may be seen side
by side; there are Spanish soldiers, Mayan kings, hor-
rible-looking Mayan devils and gorgeously attired
viceroys. To the onlooker it all seems incongruous,
very confusing and very amusing; but to the Indians
It is a serious matter, and while it proves how misty
and garbled are their ideas of historical events and the
story of their race, yet It serves to keep alive their
ancient traditions.
By far the greater number of thie 'descendants of
the Mayas are In the territory once under Mayan
dominion: In Honduras, Guatemala and Yucatan.
But as I have mentioned In Chapter VII the Mayas,
like the Aztecs, had numerous outlying and even far-
distant colonies or provinces. It Is not surprising
that we should find much of the Mayan tongue, the
religion, even the arts and customs, surviving in the
land where once the Mayas held full sway. But
that any of these remote, isolated communities should
have survived and should have retained any traces
of Mayan origin is truly remarkable. For centuries
they have been cut off from all intercourse with other
members of their race; they have been surrounded by
tribes of distinct stock, and often by savages and
enemies, and they have dwelt in an environment and
under conditions which would tend to destroy or
eliminate all vestiges of their origin and their an-
cestral characters. Yet, as in the case of Aztec influ-
ence among the Guaymfs (see Chapter X), these de-
scendants of former Mayan outposts have preserved
some of their ancient characters to greater extent and
with less alterations than have the Indians dwelling
within the Mayan area proper.